A to Z Printing has completed their move to the CBI! Diane Morey celebrated her 5th anniversary of owning A to Z Printing in January. She bought the printing business when it was located on Miller Avenue in Crossville. Three years ago Diane relocated the business to the Woodmere Shopping Center. Now they are resident within the CBI! Continue reading
The Cumberland Business Incubator Maker Space is almost ready! The laser cutter is vented to the outside, mirrors are aligned, and the cutting has begun! The vinyl cutter has been cutting symbols and signs and will be cutting out our newly developed Maker Space logo next! The 3D printer is working on parts almost every day. Hand tools are in place as are the embroidery sewing machine, miter saw, router, band saw, electronics station…….and more! Don’t miss the information contained below about our Maker Space Grand Opening and Cumberland Business Incubator Open House on April 8th. Continue reading
As we continue to work on developing the CBI Maker Space, I discovered The Grommet www.thegrommet.com . It will be a great resource for some of our makers. From the website:
“A Grommet is an innovative, unique product that is created by a Maker with a story to tell. Often a Grommet is new to market or has not yet been broadly discovered. When we choose Grommets, they are ready to find a wider audience and our product launch platform gives them the amplification and attention they deserve. Continue reading
I’m enjoying learning from The Starbucks Experience by Joseph A Michelli.
Starbucks has found a way to move from one small store in Seattle Washington to over 11,000 stores worldwide with 5 new stores opening every day and annual sales topping $600 million. Can we learn a thing or two about management and leadership from them? I think so! Starbucks has 5 principles that set it apart. The first one is:
Principle 1: Make It Your Own Continue reading
Tinker Space. It is a community workspace designed to allow those who tinker, program, invent, build, code, problem solve, and so much more, have the space and equipment needed to dream big and then turn those dreams into reality. Soon we’ll have one here in Crossville.
An open, well-lit space ready to welcome Upper Cumberland tinkers in 2015! The vision for the space is that of a co-working space/tinker space/artists’ studio where woodworkers can build, sculptors can sculpt, inventors can invent, programmers can code, quilters can quilt, and so much more. Located on the Roane State Community College campus in Crossville, the Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) will be the home of the Tinker Space. Continue reading
More than 60% of U.S. business owners are over 50 years of age (Baby Boomers), and many of them are looking forward to retirement and the process of attracting and vetting potential buyers to take over the reins of their business. The problem for those that have built these companies is that the businesses may not be attractive to a new generation of business buyers. There are three major trends that impact the salability of a business. Understanding these trends can help owners transition successfully in a challenging market, and help identify the buyer who will lead their company into the future. Continue reading
Welcome! This week all around the globe people are celebrating innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) launched in 2008 and has since grown to 150 countries with over 24,000 partner organizations planning over 34,000 activities that directly engage millions of participants during the week. Continue reading
The CBI recently developed Co-Working spaces. I found an article by Cassidy North-Reist that helps define some of the behaviors that will help you succeed in a Co-Working space.
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The nature of the American workforce is rapidly changing, with more of us telecommuting or starting businesses out of our homes than ever before. It’s no surprise then that there’s been a recent surge in people taking up residency in Co-Working spaces. Continue reading
Before a million pails of cold water brought amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) global attention, many people had never heard of the disease. After a summer of ice bucket challenges, the devastating motor neuron disorder has an astonishing level of awareness. Although the campaign didn’t originate as a deliberate marketing strategy, it’s a great case of the power of guerrilla marketing in the social-media age.
Inexpensive, small scale and non-traditional marketing tactics can be extremely effective ways to promoting your brand if the idea catches the public imagination and goes viral. Guerrilla marketing covers a huge variety of activities. Continue reading
This October’s issue of INC. magazine has an interesting article about splitting founder’s equity.
15 years ago Atlanta-based Ockham Technologies had three founders. One founder had part of the original idea and was putting in sweat equity and cash. A second founder was putting in sweat equity and cash but wasn’t part of the original idea. A third founder was part of the idea and put in cash but no sweat equity. What type of split of the equity would have been “fair?” Continue reading